Amisk Sipi

Amisk Sipi, the Beaver River, flows east from the lake country near Lac La Biche through the northern forest toward the Churchill River. Its basin was home to Cree communities who travelled and traded along the river and across the watershed. Near its headwaters, a portage linked the east-flowing waters to the La Biche and Athabasca rivers, opening a route between two great drainage systems.

In 1798 the trader David Thompson established a North West Company post at Lac La Biche. Portage La Biche and the Beaver River became a route for canoes carrying furs, supplies and messages between the Churchill country and the Athabasca basin. The Hudson's Bay Company used the passage too, during its rivalry with the North West Company. Its travellers crossed a divide already known to Indigenous people.